So I started to do my own research, both in printed books and online. I read about minimal shoes and barefoot running. Now I don’t run. I walk. But I can do a half marathon easily. So I found the flattest most minimal shoes I could. I had to correct my walking. I realized my big toe was never touching the ground! I think wearing modern shoes had goofed up my feet somehow. So I had been walking around for years with my big toe and the area right behind it up in the air. I think it’s the shoe structure? So it took all summer to slowly correct my walking.

Now I’m walking straight in my minimal shoes. They are just cheap kids shoes from Payless. I’ve lost a lot of weight over the years and my foot has gone down to a AA width…makes it very hard to find anything that fits! Which is very frustrating!!

Last week I tried on a pair of Sketchers GoWalk. I wanted to see if I would overpronate. Yep! Just walking up and back in the store a little bit out creases in the rubber at the inner heel of the shoe. I guess I cannot ever wear modern built up shoes anymore…yet these are the kind that most shoe stores sell.

I have a very very hard time finding winter boots that fit and don’t go crooked due to how they are made.

I used to have low arches, now they are the neutral type.

I don’t know if anyone will read this, but a lot of it seems to be caused by shoe design?

I realize this is an older post, but I had to look it up again to read your thoughts on the subject. I had a REALLY bad experience at a local running specialty store (Gazelle Sports) last night with my 13 year old daughter, which tells me that this method of shoe fitting is sadly in full effect.

My daughter has been running for 3 years in “big box model” shoes by brands like New Balance and others, basic “neutral” style shoes. I took her to a REAL running store so we could get her a proper pair of running shoes. This was after spending about an hour at a DSG across town trying on a whole bunch of different shoes and narrowing her favorite (of the models that DSG carried) down to the Peg 33. I was hoping to have her try on a few models that DSG did not carry.

So we walked into the store and looked at their shoe wall. I pointed out the Kinvara 7 as well as the Zante as shoes that she should try on. The salesperson came up and I asked for a size 10 in each of the shoes. She said that she first wanted to measure my daughters feet and find out what style of shoes were right. She determined the size and then had my daughter walk back and forth about 10 feet, she didn’t even ask my daughter to jog in the store. After some viewing from behind, this clerk said that my daughter pronates and needs support shoes. I tried my best to bite my tongue and figured it wouldn’t hurt to try on a few other models. So she went in the back and came out with the NB Vongo, the Nike Structure, and the Brooks Ravenna. My daughter tried all of them on and didn’t really love any of them.

I attempted to ask for the K7 and the Zante again, and the clerk said that my daughter needs the support or she will have injuries in the future. I explained to her that my daughter had been running in neutral shoes for 3 years w/o any problems and that those “injuries” can be avoided by proper leg/hip/glute strength work. She just looked at my blankly like she had no idea what I was talking about.

Finally, she begrudgingly went in the back and fetched a Peg 33 for my daughter to compare side by side with the Structure. By this time, we had spent 45 minutes wasting time trying on shoes that we weren’t interested in so I told her it was getting late and we needed to go. It was highly frustrating and I was surprised that this local running specialty store would do this, but it makes me not want to go back there again.

I just wish their was some way to get these running store employees the proper education about running gait and how shoes fit into the picture. Maybe I should send them a copy of your book!

YES, this post x10.

For the past few years I’ve been wearing the
the Newton Motion 2011’s. My left knee gets sore when I run too fast down hill and my right foot has plantar fasciitis, off and on.

Thanks for your advice!!!

Have you had any injury issue in the Newton’s? Which specific pair/model do you have.

Peter,
I’m relatively new to running and was told I over pronate and directed to wear x,y, or z shoes. I wore them and had a lot of injuries. I switched to Newton’s. They helped me switch from heel running to mid-foot running. I’d like to try some other shoes, but I have no idea what to purchase. I don’t want to go to a running store. How do I really know what shoes I should be running in?

Post*

Conversations like this make me cringe too! It really grinds my gears when people look at something pronation in isolation as well! Pronation could literally be a symptom of a mobility issue at the ankle via decreased ankle dorsiflexion. As a result of insufficient ROM there my foot will be obliged to pronate and thus potentially cause a knee valgus moment. However, this is a mobility issue and people often try to treat it using an orthotic or “special” shoe to control motion when we need more motion! Don’t bring a stability fix to a mobility problem!

Best,

Adam Kelly, ATC

Hi, my name is Jake, I tried posting on the forum, but could not figure it out. I have been told that I over pronate, which is why i switched out of kinvaras after a stress fracture. I now have run in the pure cadence 1( which give me arch pain) and the asics gt2000(which just don’t work for me fit wise). I am thinking about the brooks launch, but am worried that it will increase my pronation because of one article recently stating that some neutral shoes increase pronation because they are meant to combat supination? I am asking you for help because all of your articles have made so much sense and are reasoned out. I will be running at the collegiate level next year and need a good shoe to consistently train. I am 5’11” 140 lbs with a midfoot strike. Thank you so much for your help!